Project Gap (Working Title)
by Suwako The Frog
Summary: A crash leads two people on a path to White Forest, but how will they fair when one of them is a youkai with a passion for getting into trouble?


**Chapter 1: Delta: by Suwako the Frog**

**Citadel, City 17, 1 hour until collapse of Citadel Alpha**

ORDERS: Combine forces are ordered to evacuate the Citadel, or die in the coming explosion. Combine Officer Delta-1 is ordered to transport the special subject known as Subject 'Gap' out of the radius of collapse. Subject 'Gap' had been one of the Combine's most ambitious projects yet, that of the creation of a Superportal, and that time is close at hand. Delta put down the holoboard and headed down the demolished hallways, towards one of the last remaining working hangers. The place was a mess, but it worked, and that is what was key here.

"Overwatch, we are boarding dropship out of City 17, over." said Delta-1 over his helmet radio.  
"Negative, anticitizens detected with anti-air weapons." came Control's response.  
"Use the Ion Spear, that is an order."

"Priming Ion Spear now."

"I want it as top priority." commented Delta.

"Yes commander, moving to number 1 priority now." came the reply.  
"Rodger that Overwatch." Delta finished. The large boom reverberated through the Citadel, the sign of an Ion Spear launching. The large Dropship, meant for transporting large amounts of troops, opened up, revealing several soldiers, armed to the teeth, guarding a large gray statis pod. As Delta walked in, the soldiers saluted him, which he then put them at ease.

"Is the subject ready for transport?" asked Delta.

"Yes sir, the subject is ready for transport." they responded.

"Good, get the ship in launch position, and go at my mark." Delta ordered. "Yes, commander." The pilot said.

"Ion Spear is firing for effect, launch now." came Control.

"Now launch." Delta commanded. The pilot nodded, and began the launch protocol, launching at a high velocity out of the Citadel.

"Overwatch, we are air-bound, status on the anti-air?"

"Anti-air is still operational, but is distracted at the moment, now get the subject to the designated coordinates." came Command.

"Rodger that Overwatch, we are at full speed." responded Delta. Suddenly, a loud bang occurred just outside. The dropship's engines were being damaged, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"We are hit, I thought they were distracted!" yelled Delta.

"They are Delta, it's not the anti-air damaging you." Command responded

"Then what is it?!" Delta yelled.

"Unknown." replied Command.

"We're going down, brace for impact!" yelled the pilot. Delta held on to the closest thing near him as the ship violently crashed into the ground.

**Outskirts of City 17, 20 minutes until collapse of Citadel Alpha**

Delta slowly opened his eyes, his helmet's visor cracked and covered in blood, blood that was not his own. He reached for his Elite helmet, taking it off slowly, seeing that the situation was much worse than he imagined. Combine soldiers lied dead on the floor, either killed from the impact, or falling debris.

Delta was hurt himself, with a piece of shrapnel lodged in his arm. He braced himself, and quickly pulled the shrapnel out, him holding back screams of pain. He then slowly got up, stumbling towards the ship's first-aid kits, healing his arm with the viscous green gel. His AR2 was snapped in half by other debris, so he was also stranded without a gun. Delta sighed, as he fixed his helmet's visor with a spare, as he's learned that they break quite easily. Putting back on his helmet and trying his radio.

"Overwatch, this is Delta-1, do you read?" Delta tried, but nothing but static came through.

"Damn it!" he swore to himself. He looked over to the stasis pod, containing the subject he was supposed to transport. He thought that maybe he could use at least someone to back him up. So he approached the pod, and put in the numbers to open the pod. Steam came out of the sides of the pod, and the two latches keeping it shut opened slowly. The main flap then swung open, revealing a woman in a purple dress, with long blonde hair wrapped up in a white mob cap, with a large red bow on the front of it. Next to her was a small purple parasol, which seemingly felt warm to the touch. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, which were a bright gold color, as she then surveyed her surroundings.

"Where am I?" she asked.  
"Somewhere on the outskirts of City 17." Delta replied.

"Are you going to put me up for those test things again? If you do, I will kill you." she said.

"I was ordered to transport you, but our dropship was destroyed." Delta stated plainly.

"I can see that, and I presume we are the only survivors?" she asked again.

"Yes." Delta replied. "We need to get out of the city, then we figure out what to do from there." Delta questioned.

"Yukari." she simply replied.

"Hmm?" Delta inquired.

"It's my name, just so you know." Yukari explained.

"Names are unimportant" Delta stated.

"Well if I'm going to be stuck with you, I want a name." Yukari sternly asked.

"Delta." Delta finished.

"Oh, right, you people are brainwashed, I forgot about that. You don't know your real name." Yukari remembered.

"It is the name our Benefactors gave to m-" Delta started.

"No, it's the name the ones who killed you gave you. I can make you remember who you are, what they did to you, make you human again." Yukari explained.

"That does not matter logically at this point, we must get out of here now." Delta responded. Yukari sighed.

"Fine, let's go then." Yukari replied, walking out of the wreckage. Delta then picked up a small handgun lying on the ground, and followed suit. The sky was a light red color, resulting from the energy of the Citadel's imminent explosion. Yukari and Delta quickly ran down the desolate street, torn down by Striders. Yukari then spotted a APC on the side of the road.

"You think you could turn on this thing?" Yukari asked. Delta nodded and walked up to the APC, flicking open a small hacking device and sending an electrical shock through the vehicle. The vehicle kicked into life and Delta opened the main hatch of the vehicle.

"Let's go." Delta politely insulted.

"Geez, no need to be blunt." Yukari replied. Yukari stepped up into the APC, fitting behind Delta as he plowed through the debris ahead, and onto the small road that led out of City 17.

**Near City 17, collapse of Citadel Alpha IMMINENT**

The APC went at it's fastest speed, plowing through abandoned cars and abandoned Combine force-fields without an issue. Suddenly, a ear-shattering noise filled the duo's ears. Pods launched in every direction out of the Citadel, as a wave of energy pulsed out from it.

"GO, NOW!" yelled Yukari.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Delta yelled in response. The pulse caught up to them, throwing the APC against the cliff face. Several rocks from above rolled down the hill, causing more damage to the APC. Yukari crawled out of the APC, dragging Delta out as well. Yukari prepped something, causing a seal of binding to appear on the ground. The seal began to glow, with Delta's body starting to twitch.

"This is for your own good, you ungrateful bastard." Yukari muttered to herself. "I shouldn't even be doing this, giving you your memories back, but it is what was requested of me." Yukari continued.

**5 Years ago, City 17**

It was a rainy day in City 17. Soane was on his way home from work at the factory. He opened the door to the apartment's stairway and drowsily went up the long flight of stairs. Suddenly the sound of a door being trampled down filled his ears, and he snapped out of his drowsiness. He rushed up the stairs to his floor, finding it was his apartment being raided. A Overwatch soldier guarded the door, meaning that it was serious business. He walked towards the apartment, with the soldier stopping him.

"Is this your living space?" asked the soldier.

"Yes, what is the problem?" Soane asked the soldier.

"You are under arrest for keeping valuable resources away from the Combine." the soldier explained.

"Valuable resources? What the hell are you talking about?" Soane asked again.

"The yellow crystal." flatly replied the soldier, now pointing a MP7 at him. Soane remembered that crystal, he got it as a souvenir from a friend, who said got it from Xen. He thought the thing was useless.

"Now, go where I tell you, or you die." the soldier threatened. Soane then punched the soldier in the face, taking his weapon and shooting him. An alarm went off in the vicinity, and Soane ran up to the top of the building. Combine soldiers right behind him. He lept from building to building, trying to get away. Suddenly, a larger human-like creature came through the group of soldiers. It had a muscular body, with long arms ending in four sharp claws, with two long sharp jutting toes coming out of it's feet. It's eyes were in mechanical stalks, going to either side of the head in small tubes, glowing a bright green color, with a gas mask covering it's mouth. It charged Soane, pouncing him with it's claws, making large gashes on his chest. Soane pushed the creature off, firing an entire clip into the creature, slowing it down.  
It tried to charge again, but he was ready, smacking it in the head with a nearby pipe, breaking one of it's eyes. But that did not stop it from clawing him again, knocking him out. The rest of the soldiers caught up, with the creature standing over the body.

"Shall we send it to the Cremators?" asked one soldier.

"No, we need another soldier to replace the one he killed. Send him to the re-education center." explained the commander. The soldiers nodded in agreement, and sent the body to be rehabilitated.

**Present Time, Near the ruins of City 17**

Yukari sat, watching the newly formed Superportal, which stretched up into the swirling dark clouds that surrounded it. She inquisitively watched when it did a small pulse of light, with her being able to feel such energy radiating from the bright turquoise beam. She sat like this for thirty minutes, waiting for a response from Delta other than the occasional twitching, and she was getting anxious. Suddenly, the seal began to stop glowing, meaning that it was working. Delta sat up, with Yukari giving a small smirk at him.

"Rise and shine, Mr. Menacing." Yukari joked as she stood up.

"What happened?" Delta asked, rubbing his aching head.

"The Citadel exploded, knocking you out, along with our car, but it gave me a chance to fix you." Yukari explained.

"Fix me?" Delta asked.

"Give you back your memories, restore your human form, that sort of thing." she lazily spoke.

"But why?" Delta asked.

"A magician does not reveal their secrets, whatever they may be." Yukari cryptically explained. "So, can you tell me your name now?" she asked.

"It's Soane, I think." he said.

"It takes a while for the magic to work it's full effects, so you might not remember everything immediately " Yukari said. "Now, we need to find some place called White Forest, do you have any clue where that may be?" she asked.

"No exactly, but I do know it's somewhere in the Outlands." he replied.

"It's a start. Shall we go onward then?" Yukari gestured.

"But we need a car or something, don't we?" Soane asked.

"Cars? We don't need them, we can walk. If we find such a car, we'll use it, but that does not matter at this point. What matters is that we get to White Forest." Yukari simply and logically stated.

"But why White Forest?" Soane asked.

"It's one of the main Resistance bases, we can use it to regroup with the Resistance, and possibly stop that." Yukari pointed to the Superportal.

"Well then, if we're with them now, I might want to distinguish myself from the other soldiers, as rebels may think i'm with them, considering the armor." Soane pointed out.

"You're right, but if you removed your helmet.." Yukari started.

"I guess, you said you fixed what I look like?" Soane asked.

"Yes, you shouldn't look like one of them anymore." she said. Soane took off the menacing cycloptic helmet, revealing his very pale face to the world. He had very short brown hair, with turquoise eyes, that somewhat shined in the light. "Lovely, ain't you? Your paleness should resolve itself over time, considering we'll be in the sun quite a bit." Yukari said, spinning her parasol back and forth. "Shall we go on then now?" she finished.

Soane threw the helmet on the ground. "That would be good." Soane said, cracking a small smile.

**Author's Note: This is only experimental, and I have no idea if I should continue it or not, so please leave a review.**

**Also, another note. The Ion Spear does not belong to me, it belongs to a Youtuber by the name of Beserkoid, he just allowed me to use it here.**


End file.
